UNICEF appeals to FG, State Govts to fund children programmes

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has appealed to Federal and State Governments to ensure proper funding for children programmes to safeguard their future.

UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria, Mr Mohammed Malick-Fall, disclosed this at the closing of a five-day workshop on Public Finance for Children in Abuja on Sunday.

“Public financing for children is important because development money is just the seed money compared to the needs in Nigeria.

“It is important for Federal and State Governments to release the funding that we need to meet the Social Development Goal (SDG),” Malick-Fall said.

Also speaking, Mr Gustave Nebie, UNICEF Regional Adviser, Social Policy, West and Central African Region (WCARO), described the workshop as timely.

“I think it was a good workshop, because what is important here is diversification of partnership.

“Usually, this kind of workshop is held for people in the social policy section only but fortunately, in Nigeria the senior management has decided to bring everybody along.

“The idea is due to the fact that public finance involves all sections of the organisation,” Nebie said.

He said that participants at the workshop had been equipped with various skills to work towards enhancing the wellbeing of children.

“For me, it was a very successful meeting and I was really happy to be part of it.

“It will kick start a process in which we have to work together in order to be able to move the public finance agenda.

“As we all know, we are working to achieve results for children and we need to make sure that we get more resources for the benefit of the children,” Nebie said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised for staff of UNICEF Regional offices in Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.